Dredger and excavator.



PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

2 sums-sum 1.

M. P; SCHETZEL. DREDGER AND EXGAVATOR. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14,1906.

AWN

WITNESSES:

7 0 9 1 am. 2 P A D E T N E T A P.

L E Z T E H G S M am 2 6, l 5 8 N DREDGER AND EXGAVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14,1906.

327' ATT NEY WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT GEETGE.

MARX P. SOHETZEL, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

DREDGER AND EXCAVATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 23, 1907.

Application filed June 14, 1906. Serial No. 321.743.

provements in Dredgers and Excavators, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a dredger and excavating apparatus.

It consists in a revoluble adjustable digging portion and means for abstracting the spoils therefrom, and conveying them away.

It also comprises details of construction and combinations of parts which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Flgure 1 1s a plan vlew of the invention. Fig. 2 is an end view partly in section, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation.

It is the object of my invention to provide a conveniently manipulated revoluble dredging wheel, with means for counterbalancing, advancing or retracting it upon its support, and raising or depressing it to suit the work to be done, together with means for constantly conveying away the spoils from the wheel.

As shown in the drawings, the wheel consists of a row of circularly arranged excavating buckets A united to form a wheel of any suitable diameter. This wheel is journaled upon a stationary shaft mounted in suitable bearings which in the present case are shown upon the ends of long truss frames 3, which truss frames are supported upon suitable pillar blocks or standards 4, which stand ards are mounted upon wheels 5 adapted to travel upon rails 6, and these rails are carried upon a dredge boat or float 7 having channels in opposite ends so that two of the devices may be employed, and one at each end to counterbalance each other.

The pivoted truss frames which carry the digging wheel are extended inwardly beyond their fulcrums, and at the inner ends they carry heavy counterbalance weights 8. These weights are sufficient to approximately balance the weight of the digging wheel, and to thus allow it to be easily handled by means of block and tackle, as shown at 9 this block and tackle being so connected that the truss frame may be tilted to allow the digging wheel to be depressed into the material beneath the Water in which the dredge boat is floated.

The dredge boat is of that form having an open channel extending into one or both ends, of sul'licient width and length to allow the digging wheel to turn freely within the space. The rails or track 6 extend upon each side of this channel, and the standards upon which the truss frame shaft is ournaled are a connected by transverse timbers 10.

One or more screws 11 pass through correspondingly threaded nuts in the connecting portions 10, and by turning these screws the whole frame of the wheel may be advanced or retracted at will. The object of this is that when the dredge boat has been anchored at some point, the wheel maybe lowered and its work commenced at the extreme inner end of the open channel portion of the boat, and it may be gradually advanced within the channel so as to dig as far as the length of the boat will admit before the latter is again advanced.

The wheel consists of a series of digging buckets or shovels disposed as plainly shown in Fig. 1 so that the edges of each shovel are projected beyond the back of the one in advance, and the revolution of the wheel causes these shovels to excavate the material which is 'held within the buckets until the wheel has revolved to such a point that the material will fall by gravitation' downwardly, and across the hollow stationary shaft 2 on which the bucket wheel is turnable. The lower side of this shaft has connected with it a tube 12 which extends radially dowirward to near the bottom of the interior of the wheel buckets,

and as the material which has been excavated, falls by gravitation across the tubular shaft, it falls also down upon each side of this open pipe, being disintegrated and mixed with the considerable body of water which is always being taken into the wheel. from below, and it is thus made sulliciently thin to be easily sucked up into the tube by suitable pumps which are connected with the apparatus as follows: These pumps are represented at 13, and they are in the form of rapidly revolving screws fitting the hollow shaft 2 within which their own shafts 14 are ournaled. At the outer ends of these shafts are meters 15 of suitable character, and by these motors the pumps are revolved so rapidly as to constantly withdraw the material which forms in the bottom of the wheel.

16 are discharge pipes connecting with the outer portion of the wheel shaft, and through these the material is constantly delivered by the pumps while the latter are in operation.

IIO

Any suitable means may be employed for turning the excavating wheel. I have here shown a motor or motors at 17, and a sprocket wheel driven by this motor, and also around the periphery of the digging wheel.

The wheel is here shown as provided with rollers near its periphery, and around these rollers the driving chain 17 passes from the driving sprocket. There will be sufficient frictional contact between the chain and these rollers or projections to insure the turning of the digging wheel under normal strains, but if anything is encountered which is too hard to be excavated or moved, the chain will slip around the rollers and will not turn the wheel.

The motor is carried upon the tiltable truss frames in such relation with the digging wheel that whether the wheel be raised or depressed the tension of the chain will always remain the same.

The screws 11 are driven by means of motor 19 through suitable gearing. I have here shown a worm gearing which will accomplish the result.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a digging and dredging apparatus, circularly disposed digging buckets having a common center of revolution and means for revolving said buckets, and a tilting frame upon which the buckets are carried and by which they may be raised and depressed, said frame having a counterbalance at its inner end.

2. In a dredging and digging apparatus, a wheel composed of a series of buckets, a central support about which the Wheel is revoluble, a fulcrumed truss frame, upon the outer ends of which the wheel shaft is supported, a counterbalance upon the inner end of the frame, and means for tilting the frame upon its support.

3. In a dredging and digging apparatus, a wheel composed of buckets having the outer ends and sides diverging, a central axial support upon which said wheel is turnable, fulcrumed truss frames upon the outer ends of which the wheel shaft is supported, a counterbalance upon the inner end of the truss frame, a motor and driving sprocket carried upon the truss frame, a driving chain or belt passing around the sprocket and rollers projecting from the sides of the periphery of the Wheel through which motion is transmitted to rotate the wheel.

4. In a dredging and digging apparatus, a

digging wheel composed of buckets disposed around a common center having cutting sides and edges, a shaft upon which the wheel is turnable, a tiltable counterbalance truss frame upon the outer end of which the wheel is carried and by which it may be raised or depressed, tracks upon which the fulcrumed standards of the truss frame are movable to advance, and means for advancing or retracting the standards and the wheel.

5. I11 an apparatus for dredging and digging, a float having centrally disposed channels at the ends, tracks upon each side of the channels, wheeled standards mounted upon the tracks, means for advancing said standards forwardly or backward, counterbalanced truss frames fulcrumed and tiltable upon the standards, a wheel composed of open mouth and sides, digging buckets, a shaft upon which said wheel is mounted, said shaft being carried upon the outer end of the truss frame.

6. In an apparatus for dredging and digging, a float having a centrally disposed channel, wheel supports located upon each side of said channel, a wheel composed of open mouth and side buckets disposed around a common center, a hollow shaft upon which the wheel is turnable whereby the dredged material is lifted Within the wheel and dropped to the bottom by gravitation, a vertically disposed tube connecting the shaft with the lower interior of the wheel, and pumping mechanism by which the material is constantly abstracted through the tube and shaft.

7. In a dredging and digging apparatus, a wheel composed of a series of open mouth and side buckets, means by which the wheel is raised, depressed or advanced, and mechanism by which it is rotated, a hollow shaft upon which the wheel is turnable, a tubular connection with the lower part of the shaft extending into the lower interior of the wheel, revoluble suction pumps located in the shaft adapted to withdraw the material, and pipes connecting with the outer end of the shaft through which the material is discharged.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MARX P. SCHETZEL.

l/Vitnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, CHARLES H. HARVEY. 

